I hardly ever use V4 or M4 anymore, unless I want to use Carrara hair items that grow directly on their models. Using Daz Studio to convert older content to wearable presets, I have converted over 100 items for V4/M4 and dozens of items for older figures for use with the Genesis 2 figures. Once exported as a wearable preset from Studio, the ability to load as a figure in Carrara and then mix and match across figures and content is amazing in my experience.

For example, I have loaded 2 G2Fs and 1 G2M. The G2Fs have been shaped to be Stephanie 5 and Mei Lin 6. The G2F/SP5 has skin based upon the maps for Eruana 6. The G2F/MeiLin6 has skin based upon the Saki character for Mei Lin 6. The G2F/SP5 is wearing a maid outfit for Vicki 3 by Pretty3D. The G2F/MeiLin6 is wearing a maid outfit for V4 by Pretty3D. The hairs are for V4. The G2M has been shaped to be Michael 6. The G2M's skin is based on maps for the Garen character. The G2M's clothing is an Edwardian suit for David 3

Using Genesis 2 figures and their clones, I am able to mix and match content from V3/M3, V4/M4, V5/M5, V6/M6 and more. I have even used Poser's Wardrobe Wizard to convert items for P7Simon to M4 and then to Genesis 2 male.

Just one person's experience.

Old but not dead....I knew I kept all my Generation 3 stuff for a reason! THANKS for sharing

Been there, done that. You can also; if you have Hexagon, send clothes to hex from studio to fix what autofit screws up; breast tuck, skirt center stretch.

I am trying to get back into Carrara after over a year break. And I am totally lost in all the compatibility issues of what works with what and how exactly. I find your post extremely useful because I was hoping to be able to use Carrara 8.5 and Genesis 2.

Can you point me to a thread that lists how to set it up and, if you don't mind sharing, add your own tips on your pipelines and workflow. I was never too savvy in DAZ Studio since I mostly used it as a very awkward Carrara plug-in, and the whole save-as-wearable-preset thing is completely new to me: where do you save it to (does it matter?), and how do you make Carrara see it?

Also, is the current Carrara 8.5 build - the right one to use with the latest DAS Studio 4.9.1.30 (I had no choice but to download the latest one since the one I had saved before was from over 2 years ago, and, apparently, completely obsolete.)

Hi Antaran. You are sorely missed. Welcome back. I have a thread over at Daz entitled "Best Practices for Genesis and Genesis 2" or something similar. I started it when I first decided to try the genesis and genesis 2 figures. I was not getting the results that others had reported so I thought the thread would be a good place to share work flows. It is not in any logical order because I was just experimenting and reporting my results as issues came up. I'll see if I can come up with a more organized summary here in the next few days.

@ diomede,

I am not a 7x24 Carrara user. I am only a hobbyist who does occasional 3D for fun.

I have created this cene and this scene and this scene and many others directly within Carrara. I never had to do any pokethrough adjustments, nor did I have to do any complex export/import from Studio to Carrara, or adjust bone influences, or fix UV maps.

If you have a workflow that lets me create complex Genesis / Genesis 2 scenes all within Carrara, without major herculean efforts, then I will use them, otherwise forget it, I will stay with V4M4A4H4 or V3M3A3H3.

Hi Dr. Bernie. If you have a workflow that you are happy with, don't change it. When I use V3/M3 and V4/M4 figures, all within Carrara, I get occasional poke through. Not a big deal as it is easy to fix. As for my genesis and genesis 2 workflow, I do not go through complex or expert efforts. But, I do use Studio to convert items made for older figures for use with genesis and genesis 2. It only has to be done once for any clothing item. For me, I don't see this as any more onerous than using Poser's wardrobe wizard to convert clothes designed for SP3 to V3. In fact, it takes much less time than converting a figure using wardrobe wizard. But, if Studio can't be part of your workflow for whatever reason, then I don't recommend my particular method for you.

• One-time conversion for each item to be used

1. I open Studio
2. I load the Genesis 2 male (or whatever the target figure is) from the People folder of the Daz Studio Formats folder
3. I drag and drop an item designed for M4 on to the G2M (Studio prompts me for which figure was this designed, I choose Michael 4)
4. In the scene hierarchy, I select the top level G2M figure
5. I then use FILE : SAVE AS : WEARABLE PRESET
6. Studio prompts me for a save location. I have created subfolders in my presets folder, with names like "M4 to G2M" so save there
7. I exit Studio
8. I open Carrara and load G2M from the Daz Studio format content folder
9. I navigate to my wearable presets folder (or wherever the converted figure was saved)
10. I load the converted wearable preset as a new figure without "fit to" yet
11. After the figure loads, I select the clothing item and use "fit to" to apply to G2M - all morphs are automatically loaded

• For items that I have already converted (and this is many)

1. Open Carrara
2. Load G2M
3. Load converted clothing item without using fit to yet
4. select clothing item and use "fit to" in the properties tray Do I have occasional poke through? No more than when I use V3/V4/M3/M4.

If you NEVER have to fix poke through for V4/M4 or fix odd folds when joints bend, etc., then you should not change your workflow. But that has not been my experience.with V4/M4. Use whatever works for you.

Thank you, diomede!!! I can't wait to get back to it.

And thank you for the step-by-step write-up!

So far I am trying to get Genesis to work in Carrara in the most basic sense. I found that even though I load the figure, it loads with just basic shape and rig, no morphs whatsoever and applying the character presets from the Content folder does not work either. So I am learning the whole process from the most basic initial steps.

I did find the thread you referred to, thank you! But DAZ Forum search function appears to have become useless there. :( Or am I just using it wrong? Is there a way to specify which sub-forum to search? Thank goodness for Dartanbeck's thread indexes!!! I am slowly going through the Genesis related ones hoping to fix the issues I am having.

Once I figure out the basic steps I will have 2 more challenges to overcome: figuring out how to add my own morphs to Genese1&2 content and how to add Carrara hair to those figures (hair that is not cap-dependent, but can be added to different parts of the body). Do you know if this is even possible?

The very basics of getting started. More advanced must wait for a future post.

Some problems may be the result of installation issues which are beyond my competency. I am going to assume that readers have a standard default installation of both Carrara and Daz Studio, even if Studio is never opened. I am on Windows so cannot address any Mac issues. First, make sure that you have installed Carrara and installed Daz Studio (even if you never use Studio). Personally, I created custom folders and then told DIM to install there. Everything else was default install by DIM. Second, make sure that you have installed "Genesis Starters Essential", "Genesis Starters Kit", and if you have it, "Genesis 2 Starters Essential".
Third, Carrara 8.5 comes with Michael 5 and Victoria 5, so I assume that you have them, and they are installed to default locations.

Some people use Smart Content and it works very well for them. I don't. So what follows is based on using the "content" tab in the content browser.

The most important concept is that the traditional Poser-style content of figure CR2s, prop pp2s, etc. is found in the content tab folder with "Runtime" in the name. By default, I believe that it is "My Daz3D Library Runtime." You will find the cr2 versions of The Freak, Victoria 4, and these older figures here. DO NOT LOAD GENESIS FROM RUNTIME EVEN IF YOU FIND IT THERE!

By default, there is a second (and even third) content tab folder for the Genesis Studio format stuff, typically in dsf and duf type files. It is called "My Daz3D Library" but does not have "runtime" in the name. This where to find and use genesis and genesis related content.

Open the content tab folder My Daz3D Library People Genesis. You should see the icon for Genesis and several subfolders (such as characters, clothing, hair, etc.). Left click and drag the genesis icon from the content tab to the Assemble room or the Instances tab to load the default genesis. You should see the default Genesis mesh with a bland grey material load in the Assemble room. In the instances tab, the figure's hierarchy is interesting because it has 2 levels that are both named Genesis. I will call the top level the supergroup genesis and the second level the figure group genesis. The supergroup level is a great place to load content like hair and clothes without "fitting to" yet. This is convenient for moving and resizing a clothed figure. If you select and highlight the figure-level genesis, the parameters tab will have joint control morphs and that sort of thing, but not most of the shaping morphs. If you select and highlight the "actor" level, you will find most of the character shaping morphs in the parameters tab. With the "actor" level selected, use the search box at the top of the parameters tab to confirm that the Michael 5 morph and Victoria 5 morph are there. In turn, set each to 1 and confirm that the morphs change the shape of the figure, and then back to zero. If the genesis figure does not change shape, I suspect there has been an installation problem which is beyond me.

Delete Genesis to start with a fresh scene.

In the browser tab, open the character subfolder of the People Genesis folder. You should find icons for Basic Female, Basic Male, Michael 5, and Victoria 5 and other genesis characters that have, if any. Click and drag Michael 5 from the character subfolder to the assemble room or the instances tab to load Michael 5. Notice that the supergroup level is now called Michael 5 and the figure level group is still called genesis. The joint control morphs should still be in the genesis level parameters tab and the shaping morphs should still be in the actor level.

Adding content 1 - hair - I believe that the PH Classic hair comes with Carrara 8.5. Open the "Hair" subfolder of the People Genesis folder. Find the subfolder named PH Classic. Click and drag the icon for PH Classic to the supergroup level of the figure (now named Michael 5) without using fit to. After it loads, go to the second level of the PH Classic Hair (the "figure level" as I call it). Under the general tab in the properties tray animation group will be an option to "fit to." Use fit to and select Genesis fro the drop down menu. Carrara will appear to stall as it begins calculating the morphs, but if you are patient, the hair will automatically morph to fit Michael 5. Next will be to change the color of the hair. This can be confusing. Select the figure level of the hair (the second level named PH Classic). With it highlighted yellow, go to the "materials" subfolder of the people genesis hair ph classic and double-click a hair color that you like. If you have the correct figure level selected and double click, then the materials of the hair figure will change. Takes some getting used to because manual changes of shaders are still done through the "actor" level.

Adding content 2 - clothes - The same basic steps still apply. Load the clothing figures from the duf files content tab subfolders to the Michael 5 supergroup without fitting to. After it loads, use "fit to" and choose genesis. Repeat for each item. To change materials using presets that come with the content, choose the item's figure level and double click the material icon. To change manually, select the "actor" level and enter the shader room or open the shader tab. I loaded a simple jeans and golf shirt by 3D Universe for the Jason character and used "fit to" to apply it to Michael 5..

Applying a preset pose - Of course, you can still open the bone skeleton of the Michael 5 figure by selecting "hip" under the Genesis figure level. You can pose by using the rotate tools for various bones. However, you can also apply pose presets. Select the "genesis" figure level. In the content browser, navigate to People Genesis Poses and double click the icon of the pose that you want to apply. I applied a standing pose from the "Basic Male" pose folder.

OK, that was a lot of words to get to

1. Load the M5 character from the correct content folder
2. Load a hair figure to the supergroup level of M5
3. Select the hair group figure level and use "fit to", choose genesis, and Carrara will apply the morphs
4. Select the hair figure group and double click the material set that you want applied
5. Repeat for each clothing item.
6. Select Genesis figure group level and double click the pose or expression preset that you want applied.

I didn't do anything advanced or complicated, and in this case there was no poke through.

Shaders and materials - Carrara has always had to be adjusted for figure shaders. By default, V4 loads with a blue tint, for example. So, it is worth it to either buy Carrara optimized shaders for Genesis and Genesis 2 (by Ringomonfort, for example), or adjust and save some of your own that can be applied in the global tab.

Start an empty Carrara scene. Using the content folder that has the .duf an .dsf files (probably named My Daz3D Library without the word Runtime), load Michael 5 from the People Genesis Character subfolder. Select the "actor" level of the figure hierarchy in the instances tray. Select the shaders tab in the properties tray. Double click the first shading domain material which is probably "3_SkinFoot." In my default install, this M5 shader has a texture map in the color channel but almost nothing else in any of the other channels of the shader tree. But I know that the M5 character comes with bump and specular maps, and Carrara is capable of some refraction and subsurface scattering. If you open the color channel of the shader tree and hover you cursor over the map, Carrara will tell you what the name of the map is and where it is located. For my default install, the name is M5PhillipLimbs01.jpg and it is located in the TexturesDazCharactersMilManM5 subfolder of the Runtime folder in where your poser style content is installed (by default, My Daz3D Library Runtime). In any case, note where the texture map is located because that is where the bump and other maps are. Open the bump channel, choose texture map, and navigate to the older where the texture map is and choose M5PillipLimbs01B.jpg. Similarly, you can load te M5Pillip specular map in the highlight channel. You may want to use multiply functions to have greater control of the intensity of the bump and specular. Adjust refraction, SSS, etc. to taste.

OK, you now have a shader for the limbs. Copy it to the other shading domains that use limbs (shoulder, feet, etc.) Repeat the same basic process for the torso and the face and copy each to the other domains that use torso and face maps. The eyes can be a little more complicated but again the key is that the default shaders are not optimized for Carrara but all of the necessary maps are in that same folder. Same would be true for default load of V4. Once you get the shading domains optimized the way you want for the figure, click and drag the shader from the globe at the top of the tree to your shaders tab in the content browser. Choose a name that lets you know which figure it is for.

** Good news! ** In the future, you can load the default M5 and click and drag the saved global shader from your shader browser to the globe in the shader tab of the "actor" level of M5 and it will apply your saved shaders to all of the shading domains. In the case of genesis, you could load M5, apply your M5 shader, reduce the morph parameter for M5 to zero, but then increase the morph parameter for V5 to 1. Now you have a V5 with M5's shader. No specialized knowledge of uv adjustments required.

OK, that was a lot of words for

1. The bump and specular maps didn't load but they are located in a subfolder of the textures folder in the runtime library.
2. Adjust shaders for limbs, torso, face, and eyes and copy to domains that use the same maps
3. Click and drag from the globe/ball at the top of the shader tab of the "actor" level to the shaders area of your content browser
4. For future use, drag your saved global saver to the globe at top of shader tree of a newly loaded figure that uses those maps

Thank you for the comprehensive guide! I hope it gets stickied somewhere to help others too!

Based on it I am guessing that the problem I am having is not normal, so I posted a question in DAZ Forums. (No morphs loading in Carrara with the figure). I do have all the prerequisites (DAZ Studio, Carrara 8.5, Essential Starter Kits), so something else must be wrong. Oy. And I was so hoping that the clean install of everything will save me from these troubles...

Sorry, sounds like a setup or installation problem. If you open Daz Studio and load Genesis there, does the figure have any available morphs? You can check by opening the Daz Studio parameters pane, highlighting "all" and scrolling down the rightside column for morphs. If they are there, do they work when you adjust the slider? Or, is it only a Carrara problem?

It's only a Carrara problem. Daz Studio sees all the morphs with no issues...

Hey, In another thread, 3DAge says

"

HI :)

To get genesis or any other Daz3D / Poser figure into Carrara, you should "Add" your Poser Runtime or Daz content Library (My Library) folders, to the content browser in Carrara. so that carrara knows where to look for content.

Since Genesis is Smart content,. It'll show up in the Smart Content area of the Carrara browser.

The information in that area is supplied by a database which also feeds the same data to daz Studio.

If that database isn't running on your system,. the Smart content data wont be suppplied to carrara, ... no smart content. ... no genesis .

If you've added your DS library's to Carrara, and there's no smart content showing,. check that the "Postgres" database services are running.

Just realised i'm answering a post from page 2 .... DOH !"

Is that helpful?

This seems to be the key phrase - check that the "Postgres" database services are running

Ah! No, it's not. For the simple reason that I didn't install it (it wasn't on my list of bare bone things to install and try) But you are still loading the content from your Content tab, not your Smart Content tab, is that correct?

I never use smart content. Ever. (others use it very effectively) But it may be the case that the database has to be run once to compile and access the morphs in Carrara. Not sure. Best to check with Andy in the Daz thread if no one knows here.

Thank you for the tip and the content explanation! It worked like magic! :) YAY!

thanks for all that valuable stuff diomede